


ev'ry petal in due course

by Anonymous



Category: Horus Heresy - Various Authors
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, F/M, Jealousy, Possessive Behavior, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 21:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17231489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Perturabo disapproves of his sister's sights for the future.





	ev'ry petal in due course

Enter Calliphone into the apartments of her bethrothed. The fifth and finest in a series of hasty engagements; younger women from lesser households had children -- _children!_ \-- to their names and still she remained without a husband.

Hector was the most promising yet, though he was as cold and calculating as the rest of their kind, she could have sworn something softened in the corners of his eyes when he looked upon her. More than approval, she had found herself touched at the perchance of affection.

She brought books and letters and sweets from the capital. They tumbled to the floor when she saw what was lying in the hall.

The scene was thus: herself, frozen at the doorway; Hector, a crumpled bleeding heap on the floor; and the deathbringer himself, Perturabo, standing at the center of it all.

Calliphone was no fool. She had expected -- and had been subsequently flattered by -- familial intervention. She was her father's only daughter and his favorite child, if the whispers held any truth. But as she looked upon Hector's face -- beaten to such a pulp she could not look at it for long -- she felt something wither, something that would not grow for a long time.

She raised her gaze to meet her brother's.

"Sister," he said at last, when she would not speak first. He stepped over Hector's corpse, kicking it to the side as he went. "I am sorry you had to see that."

It was the apology that truly hurt. Calliphone found herself blinking back tears. She could not hold his gaze, she could not stand, she could hardly even breath. Just as she was about to sink to her knees though, Perturabo crossed the space, keeping her upright in his grasp. He had stopped growing years ago, in the time when she dwarfed boys her age, but his hand was such that the greater portion of her back fit into his palm.

With a gentleness he never showed any of their siblings or indeed anyone else, he reached for her face with his other hand, wiping at the stream of tears.

"Do not cry, sister," he commanded, "He is not worth your tears."

A woman of Terra might have spoke of love. But Calliphone is Olympian, through and through, and this action too, is a reminder. There are no friends amongst Olympians. Even if she were to marry Hector, regardless of what affections he felt for her and vice-versa, they would never be friends. There was no place for trust in the socio-political miasma of their world.

Calliphone closed her eyes, willing away the tears, and when she opened them anew, she felt strength flood back to her limbs, enough so that she could stand on her own. Perturabo's hand hovered behind her for a second more than necessary, but he withdrew it soon enough.

"Come," he said, signalling the end of their business in this part of the city, "I've a novel idea for poison-testing being drafted. I should be done with the prototype before the evening meal."

Unlike her other brothers, Perturabo preferred to walk in-line with her or even a pace behind. And so she could not spare a glance for poor Hector or his already-defiled corpse. The books and letters and sweets remained scattered; neither of them made any note of them.

The servants she traveled with needed to return home on foot; otherwise there would have been no room for her brother in the carriage. As they were seated in it and the driver instructed to return to their father's palace and Perturabo seated across from her with his chin on his hand and turned to the passing scenery, Calliphone spoke.

"Euclys is with child."

"Is she now."

"And Daphne has just given birth again. Twins."

"I am amused, sister, that you think I care for this gossip."

"I do not mean to educate you, but to present you with a comparison."

Perturabo turned from the window then, fixing her with a particularly harsh glance -- the sort that even their father would have flinched from.

"Do not compare yourself to them Calliphone," he instructed, as if it were as simple as that.

"Father wants things from each of us," Calliphone answered, trying a different route. "I have none of your ingenuity, nor Herakon's ambition, nor Andos' sanguinuity."

"What does Dammekos want?" Peturabo asked point-blank.

"Grandchildren. Successors. Carriers of his name."

"I will speak to him later," Perturabo said, turning once more to the window. Calliphone clenched her fists against her skirt. If anyone could change their father's mind it would be Perturabo. Her brothers often complained that it took weeks to schedule an audience with him, whereas _he_ took time from _his_ schedule to meet with Perturabo.

"It is not just Father," Calliphone started again.

Perturabo turned to face her. There was an unspoken question in his eyes.

"It is me. I desire the same."

"Ridiculous," Perturabo snorted, "For one, you are far too young, and for another, none of this ilk is worthy."

"Women younger than me are married!" Calliphone could not help raising her voice, suddenly imbued with ire on behalf of Hector's inglorious end. And likely Andreas, Castor, Oikus, and Lyra before him.

"There is no point in comparing the growth of a rose with that of weeds," Perturabo shrugged. "In time, sister, in time."

Her heart sank at that. Not his words, but the look in his eyes, which said he would raze the whole of Olympia if it meant keeping her unsullied.

Calliphone shook her head, smiling at him. There was affection in her gaze, she couldn't help hiding it, but it did not dull the fight in her words.

"It will not come soon enough, 'Bo. While I am still able, I must."

Perturabo looked at her. He seemed to be sizing her up and for an absurd moment, she felt they might come to blows inside the carriage. The carriage would not survive a single hit, to say nothing of herself. But then he nodded, giving a curt "so be it" and turned his attention back to the window where the gates to the palace were rising into view.

The next day, every eligible bachelor in the city was married off. Perturabo sat to Calliphone's left and Dammekos' right as their family presided over the festivities and when Calliphone moved to leave in envy and disgust, he placed a hand over hers, large enough to cover the armrest of her seat, and drew circles against her skin with his thumb.

"In time, sister," he promised again, "In time."


End file.
